Tottenham make it difficult for themselves on the top 4 race in the Premier League
The fact that Newcastle - the team that is in third - lost to Aston Villa 0-3 in the earliest match of the round is good news for Tottenham, when they are fifth with only three points behind "Chicken". If they win against Bournemouth, Harry Kane and his teammates will catch both Newcastle and Man Utd in points, even reaching fourth before Man Utd kicks in tomorrow's series.
But a 2-3 defeat against an opponent 10 steps below them put Tottenham in a difficult position. With 53 points available, they can be 6 points behind Man Utd, if this competitor wins Nottingham Forest tomorrow. Newcastle can also widen the gap to 6 points, because there is one match left. Keeping the current fifth position even becomes a challenge for Tottenham, when Aston Villa are behind with three points less and are excited with the last five-match winning streak.
The next two-round schedule brings Tottenham into direct matches with the next top opponents, including the away match of Newcastle in round 32 on April 23, and then against Man Utd on April 27. But with the current erratic form, the army of interim coach Cristian Stellini is being viewed with great suspicion.
Tottenham have won the last five home matches against Bournemouth in the English Premier League. And they expected to continue that tradition when they started smoothly with Son Heung-min's opener in the 14th minute. It was a good combination on the ball from the center circle, with Clement's snow pass. Lenglet let Ivan Perisic escape behind the opponent's defense and then returned it to Son to finish. The ball lightly hit Jack Stephens' foot, changing direction to block goalkeeper Neto's hand. This is Son's 101st goal in the Premier League.
But in the double attack at the end of the first half, while Son, Kane and the above links could not increase the gap, Tottenham conceded a goal because of a mistake in the defense. In the 38th minute, Porro lost the ball near the penalty area and Matias Vina immediately punished the home team with a technical shot past Lloris, equalizing for Bournemouth.
The same scenario recurred at the beginning of the second half, when Tottenham's defense again made a mistake, leading to a goal. This time, Davinson Sanchez - substituted for Lenglet from the 35th minute - broke the ball down, like passing it to Dominic Solanke, and the former Liverpool striker took full advantage of the opportunity, lowered Lloris, making the score 2-1 for the visitors. .
Bournemouth earned only 5 points, from one win, two draws in the previous 11 Premier League matches against Tottenham. They therefore seem satisfied with the advantage of leading 2-1, should withdraw to the defense to preserve the score, and make the home team stuck in front of a dense, multi-layered defense that does not hesitate to kick.
It was not until the second half of the second half that Tottenham played better and began to create opportunities with coach Cristian Stellini launching third striker Richarlison on. In the 87th minute, Richarlison hit the net, but it was not counted because the passer was offside. However, just a minute later, Tottenham equalized 2-2 when Arnaut Danjuma shot from the box, smashed the Bournemouth defender and flew into the net.
Excited with the equalizer, Tottenham massively attacked and nearly raised the score to 3-2, from a corner kick arrangement. But in the unmarked position, Richardlison headed off the post. The Brazilian striker may be tormented by this failure, because just a minute later, Bournemouth counterattacked quickly and ended the game with Dango Ouattara's accurate long shot in the fourth minute.
